Begginer Questions

Discussion in 'Coral' started by reefgirl16, Jun 15, 2011.

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  1. reefgirl16

    reefgirl16 Feather Duster

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    Okay I have questions before I get coral. Seems like the best thing I could do for coral. Okay lighting? I get a lot of natural light in the room my tank is in, and what kind of lights?

    And what are good begginer corals?

    Flow, My too powerheads put out about 50gallons per hour and the filter does 150 gallons per hour, is that enough flow??
     
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  3. shoebox

    shoebox Bubble Tip Anemone

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    I would go with some Leds and find some zoa's you like. Almost indestructible and great looking.
     
  4. Night-Rida

    Night-Rida Finback Whale

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    Do alot of research before jumping in with both feet.. mushrooms, zoas, polyps are going to be the easiest to start. with those you can get a 2 bulb T5 lighting fixture, if you start to get into harder to maintain corals like LPS, SPS then you'll want a 4 bulb t5 fixture and more power heads (flow)..
     
  5. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    You are going to want around 600gph for softies and LPS and up to 3000gph for SPS.

    Lighting will depend on what type of corals you want to keep. LED if you can afford them or T5HO otherwise. A two bulb T5HO will work but you may want to get a 4 bulb fixture if you want SPS and clams.

    Mushrooms and candy canes are other good starter corals.
     
  6. reefgirl16

    reefgirl16 Feather Duster

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    600 gph for 30 gallons?? really??
     
  7. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Yeah, That's only a 20x turn over. In my 210 gallon I have up to about 17000 GPH flow for sps dominate. (up to 80x turnover)

    I plan to run it at about 60% of that. Around 50x turnover.
     
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  9. con999

    con999 Corkscrew Tentacle Anemone

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    i would think that a 20x turn over would even be a little too small
     
  10. reefgirl16

    reefgirl16 Feather Duster

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    hmmm okay i can do that
     
  11. reefgirl16

    reefgirl16 Feather Duster

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    on the candy cane coral how do you feed them??
     
  12. wasitgreen

    wasitgreen Feather Duster

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    A great beginner coral I love is the Xenia, only problem I see is you have a low flow rate (which certain kinds are fine with) and they require med-high lighting, so you'd have to upgrade your lights too, but Pulsing Xenias are very cool, grow fast, and are pretty hardy. (Not fully photosynthetic so requires some phyto-planton to be fed)